below please find a selection of the latest news from the world of pulp and paper.

ipw news

German paper manufacturer Progroup AG has successfully commissioned the PM 3, one of the most modern packaging paper machines in the world, at the company’s Sandersdorf-Brehna facility in Saxony-Anhalt. The PM 3 is set to produce 750,000 tons of testliner and corrugated medium annually. A comprehensive sustainability concept ensures the least possible consumption of resources.

The pulp manufacturer Waggeryd Cell AB has selected AFRY’s digital software and system platform, AFRY Pulse, to increase productivity and efficiency at their mill located in Vaggeryd, Sweden.

Valmet has signed a development, cooperation and service agreement with Ecofario GmbH regarding automation for its first industrial pilot plant. The German startup company has developed a technology, which removes up to 99.9 percent of microplastics, including the inherent and adhering pollutants from wastewater. According to the agreement, Ecofario will exclusively offer Valmet’s automation for its future installations.

To ensure future competitiveness of UPM Communication Papers, UPM announces plans for permanent closing of UPM Kaipola paper mill in Finland, sale of UPM Shotton paper mill in Wales and streamlining Communication Papers business function teams.

ABB launched Paper Machine Drives Performance, a pioneering digital data analysis solution providing pulp and paper manufacturers with detailed insights into their drive system health to improve runnability and reliability, reduce sheet breaks and ultimately improve paper quality.

Mondi, global actor in packaging and paper, is supplying a sustainable mono-material, recyclable packaging for zooplus AG, a European pet food online retailer. The sustainable packaging is used for a new dry dog food product line for their own top brand ‘Wolf of Wilderness’.

Valmet will supply start-up clothing to Stora Enso’s Oulu Mill in Finland. The start-up clothing includes forming fabrics, press felts, shoe press belts and dryer fabrics. The clothing order is related to Stora Enso’s paper machine (PM 7) grade conversion project delivered by Valmet. The order is included in Valmet’s orders received of the third quarter 2020. The clothing will be delivered for the start-up of the rebuilt BM 7, which is scheduled for the end of 2020. The value of the order is not disclosed.

bio-fibre news

Stora Enso will build a pilot facility for producing Cellufoam™ by Stora Enso, a lightweight, fiber-based foam material for protective packaging and cushioning. Bio-based foams are renewable and recyclable and can be used in packaging, for example, to replace oil-based polymer foams which are widely used today. The pilot plant will be located at Stora Enso’s Fors Mill in Sweden.

Despite that Covid19 is still with us, the World BioEconomy Forum is to be arranged on 10th September, 2020. All safe and easy – as it is organised on-line, World BioEconomy Forum goes virtual – live from Ruka. NC Partnering has been helping with arrangements again.

Metsä Spring and Valmet have decided to continue the development collaboration related to 3D fibre products and hence, to invest jointly approximately EUR 20 million in a new R&D project. As part of the project, a greenfield pilot plant will be built on Metsä Group’s mill site in Äänekoski, Finland.

Stora Enso has appointed Annette Stube as EVP, Head of Sustainability and a member of the Group Leadership Team. She will start on 1 September 2020. Annette Stube is a Danish citizen who joins from a position as Head of Sustainability in A.P. Moller–Maersk, an integrated transport and logistics company. Previously she has worked as Director of Sustainability programmes in the global healthcare company Novo Nordisk. She has a master’s degree in psychology and an Executive Board Education from Copenhagen Business School. She is also a member of the Board of Directors of the Finnish energy company Fortum.